The Collinsport Chronicles XLV: In the maze
by Maryland Rose
Summary: Seeking a way to turn Maggie and Joe back to flesh after they had been turned to statues by a gorgon, Adam and Angelique venture into the I Ching maze
1. Chapter 1

IN THE MAZE

Chapter 1

Barnabas and George followed the primary results "Well, I would say that Gary Hart has a chance,." Barnabas said.

"It is not over yet."

"You know, I wonder what Maggie would say about her doppelganger endorsing Hart. Suppose she wants to back out of that? What excuse could she give? It was not me. It was a double. I was spending my time turned to stone in the basement of the local vampire..."

"That would be a novel excuse in politics. Too bad that Nixon could not have used it. He might have been able to stay. Well, Maggie has to be depetrifed before she can complain."

"Right." Barnabas said, and it was glumly enough.

George shook his head, irritated. When he thought about Maggie, he could not control his less than charitable thoughts. Like it or not, Maggie had asked for trouble and had gotten it. Too bad about Joe, but even that would not have happened if Maggie had not gone poking her nose where it did not belong.

In the meantime they had two statues in Barnabas' basement, an enraged Sabrina, a depressed Tammy, a very busy Julia, an even busier Angelique... even though Angelique ought to take it easy.

And a fully repentant Adam making a nuisance of himself by cornering everybody saying how sorry he was, and if there was anything he could do to help.

And a very smug Roger reminding Carolyn what a mistake she had made in marrying Adam...

At least there was a positive side to it. It had snapped Barnabas out of his mystic trances, and with that the worry that dawn would catch him because he was too busy praying to get back to his coffin on time...

Now, if only Julia and Angelique could come up with answers...

* * *

Julia took another tissue sample from the gorgon's eyes. She had to be careful how she approached the head, and how she obtained it. She could not let her hand cross in front of the eyes. The tools, being inanimate were in no danger. She had ran tests on the sample on leaves and insects, all petrified instantly. If he were to add acids to the samples, or to the newly petrified creatures...

She wished that she could put the sample under a microscope and look at it, just as she had been trained to do...

Maybe if she wore safety goggles...

No, they were not designed for that kind of protection. She had to go on as she was doing.

Maybe this time she would get an answer.

And if not today, tomorrow. Or the day after.

Or maybe next month. Or next year. Or...

Why couldn't she admit it? Why couldn't she say that she didn't know the first thing about it?

Maybe Angelique would succeed where she had failed.

And if Angelique could not, what then? Angelique would not let her run test after test if she thought she could do better herself.

She would love to study the gorgons further, to classify them as a separate species, dissect them, study them at her leisure. But not this way. Not with two lives in the balance. More, if she got careless with the head or tissue samples.

There had to be a way. There had to be a solution. Maggie and Joe could not stay that way forever.

* * *

"Damn the old man!" Urien thought with irritation. Why did the old man have to haunt him? He had nothing to do with the way he died. Was it his fault that the man smoked in bed?

If the old man had to haunt somebody, why not Willie? Willie was his son, after all.

Julia had told him that the dreams would go away by themselves. Well, they had not. They kept getting stronger, even after he had left Collinsport. What more could he do?

Maybe it was just nerves, moving into a new place...

No, he had to face it. This was more than dreams. He was being haunted by Robert Loomis.

Maybe it was the apartment itself... he had had a feeling that there was something about the place, that the walls knew more than David about what was going on.

Well, maybe the walls knew more about Hallie's lovers than David. He had found out too late.

But there was more to it than the sordid tale of adultery and abandonment...

And maybe...

And maybe Julia was right, and Robert Loomis would go away by himself. Just as he had come, suddenly... maybe when he started classes he would be too busy to think about such things...

And if it didn't happen?

Maybe it concerned David... could David be connected to the old man? But how? David had been in Collinsport when Loomis had died, hadn't he?

But they two had never met! How could Loomis be haunting David now?

Unless..

Unless what? Either he was having bad dreams because he had moved from Collinsport, and it scared him, or he was being haunted by Loomis.

If the dreams went away he had nothing to worry about.

And if they didn't what?

What about David's wife, Hallie? She had been in Collinsport at that time, too.

Would he stop that nonsense? Loomis had not met Hallie any more than he had met David. And why would he haunt a place where Hallie was not?

And yet...

* * *

"No matter what else is happening, no matter how your heart breaks, letters have to be answered" Megan said, sighing, as Tammy tried to concentrate on the business .

"They said that they could restore Joe. That it would take time, but that it could be done." Tammy said.

"But you do not see any progress being made."

"They said that they'd contact me when they got news. I have not heard from either Julia nor Angelique."

"I do not know what to tell you. Except that I gave up Phillip as dead not once, but twice. And yet, he is still with us. And finding a cure is not something that has to fill a schedule. It goes slowly, at a glacial pace sometimes. And then, something clicks."

"Barnabas is trying to sound cheerful for my sake."

"And he's not very good at it." Megan sighed. "You know, once you learn to discount the vampire charisma that he has, you realize how many things he is not very good at."

"I am figuring it out. You know, it still seems like a bad dream. That I am going to wake up, and that I will be in bed next to Joe, and telling myself that I will not eat any more pizza before going to sleep."

"I know what you mean. All I can tell you is to keep busy. Running the agency can be irritating, but it keeps your mind busy and away from gloomy thoughts."

"Could you do anything?"

"In this thing, I usually ask Angelique, And that is done."

* * *

Amy laid the cards. She was not sure what she was asking. It should be a spread for Maggie or Joe, but that was not all of it. Her mind kept going back to David and his child. She had been out of David's life (and he of hers). She had almost forgotten him. But now, seeing Elliot...

She must not think of that. It only interfered with what she had to do. Certainly David and Hallie had noting to do with the gorgon or the petrified Maggie and Joe. She had no excuse for letting personal consideration interfere with her readings.

She must think only of them. If she could help with the cards, if she could point the way for Julia and Angelique to follow, then, when she had done her duty, she could pine for David again.

If she and David were destined for each other, they would have plenty of times to connect afterwards. If not, it did no good to wonder.

Look at the cards. The spread could just as well be for Maggie as for Joe. They would be restored together.

The Queen of Clubs. That could be Julia, laboring mightily to bring back life.

The Magician, in opposition to the Chariot. Clubs and Swords. Work and Strife. Daring, even rashness, that was what the Chariot indicated. The Magician.. was it a good card or a bad card? Did it represent the magic power of the gorgon, or the power that would defeat the gorgon's?

More clubs, which with their flowering branches, made her think of a wilderness.

The Knight of Swords. A young rash man. Adam, who had started this. Might he be also part of the solution.?

The wilderness, where you could get lost. Could that be a maze?

The King of Cups. A loving, giving figure? Barnabas"? Was Barnabas the key to this?

The King of Cups offered a cup straight from his chest. What did the cup hold?

What did the spread mean? She thought that she could tell, but the meaning seemed to escape her.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Isn't there anything that you know that can help us?" Julia asked Angelique with desperation.

"I never learned much of gorgons. Yes, we knew they existed, but the secret of restoring their victims, if it exists, has been lost. There are stories about gorgons, but no one I knew said anything about anyone being transformed back."

"But there must be!" Julia protested.

"If there is, I do not know of it."

"You mean that, with all you know..."

"I looked into Stokes' notes too. He knew a great deal, and yet there is nothing there. He did not even know that gorgons and mermaids are the same species."

"But someone must know."

"Not someone living."

"Someone dead?'

"You want to hold a séance not knowing who to call, not even knowing if they have been reborn already?"

"There has to be something."

'How about you?"

"I will run out of samples long before I get answers. And I am scared that one day I will get careless and will look at it with the microscope..."

"I know that it is hard."

"It is not that it is had. It is that we are getting nowhere and we are just too dumb to recognize it! And we are going to keep giving Sabrina and Tammy false hopes until the day they die!"

* * *

Barnabas went down the basement. He kept the statues there, both Maggie and Joe, where they could be protected from the rain and from blows that might shatter them. He knew that the rain could not destroy them, but they could corrode and blur their features, so that when they recovered...

If they ever recovered... Neither Julia nor Angelique had sounded optimistic...

It had been so sudden, so much like a bad joke. Adam brought the head instead of letting crabs munch on it. Maggie wanted to know what he had brought. Joe wanted to see what that strange thing was.

And so it ended, the whole sorry mess that had started in 1967. A mess that started because Maggie Evans looked like an eighteenth century woman long dead...

And it all came down to him. Not Adam. Adam had been a fool, but Maggie would have never gone poking into the basement were it not that she knew that there was a cell there where she had been kept a prisoner. And now Joe and Tammy paid for it... And that sorry mess was to be settled this way, with Maggie back in his cellar...

He realized that it was getting late. He had to go and say goodbye to Vicky and Phillip. Phillip who had recognized the evil before anyone else, but who had been dismissed because of his being too high strung, and too traumatized by his own experience.

He had said goodbye to Vicky once, as she had left with her husband.. But then it was more of a storybook ending, with Vicky firmly expecting that Peter would take care of her. Now Vicky knew that she had to take care of Phillip, that for a while at least she had to be a pillar of strength for him..

Had he loved Vicky once? Yes... maybe... It was hard to recapture the feelings and thoughts of a time when his brain did not work... A time when he made as little sense as Violet Upton...

He got there in time to help Phillip load the car with their things. "We are taking this for now. We will see later what we can get, and what we can bring over, and what we might as well sell." Vicky said.

"You have a place to stay?

"Yes. A fixer upper. Comes cheap this way."

"And I will fix it." Phillip said.

Which would keep him busy and happy, until he was calm enough to look for any other work. Vicky would be the breadwinner for a while, for quite a while. But fixing up an old place did not have the stigma of being a househusband...Vicky was smart, Barnabas had to admit.

He saw them get in the car and drive away... As she and Peter Bradford had driven away so long ago...

But they were close enough and they would come back, or he could go and visit...

* * *

Adam looked abashed in front of Quentin. And well he might be, Quentin thought, a bit bitterly.

"I guess that it is not enough if I say that I am sorry." Adam finally said.

"Oh, Adam." Quentin said. "How could you have gotten into such a mess?"

"I did not realize what it was all about. I did not want any of this to happen. I wished no harm to Maggie and Joe."

"And yet they did come to harm. The result is the same whether it comes from malice or carelessness." he sighed. "I really should not be the one to say these things, even if they are true. I used to be exactly the same way that you are now. I too would have dived after a mermaid, just as you did, and probably with even less thought that you gave it. It is only thanks to you that I have better sense now..."

"I wish I had not done it. I wish I had let Carolyn apologize to me, and tried to patch up the marriage. But I was so sore for the way she had been treating all that this time, and I did not even know why."

"I know. I did have a talk to Carolyn on the subject... "

"She is too wrapped up with her uncle, and with the kid, Edmund. And now that she has the baby, I wonder if she will have room for me."

"I suspect that she does not want another overgrown child. But I think that she could use a man. Are you willing to be a man, Adam?"

* * *

Angelique took the I Ch'ing wands. She had told the truth to Julia. No one alive knew how to restore Joe and Maggie. The secret, if there was one, had been lost in the past.

So the answer was to go back to the past. Going back to the past was not without risks, specially in her state (George would have a fit if he knew what he was about to do), and she had left too many unpaid debts behind.

She would gladly let someone else go. But who? Not Barnabas. it would be even riskier for him. He could end up chained in his coffin again, with no one to release him. Or worse, Trask and the others could be waiting for him. They had lost power over him in the present. But not it the past...

So it was up to her to take the risk.

She threw the wands on the table.

"Danger" she felt the words hit it. "Not for you." "Reconsider" "Find advice."

All the words came to her in a flash.

If she entered the I Ch'ing door she may never return.

And she needed to find advice.

But from whom? Eliot Stokes? Eliot Stokes did not know anything about gorgons...

Or have Amy read the cards for her?

* * *

Amy laid down the cards. "There is a trip through a wilderness" she said, indicating the clubs. "This suit is also called wands"

"The I Ch'ing wands?"

"Yes, that's it. A dangerous journey. Too many wands. Too many paths Easy to take the wrong one."

"Let this card be the signifier for the spread."

"Yes. You are right. I will do the basic spread for it, the Celtic Cross." she laid down the first card "This covers it."

It was the Hermit. The seeker, the one who would search through the maze..

"This covers" Angelique muttered "sounds like 'discovers."

"This crosses it."

It was Strength. The strong female who overpowered the lion. The gorgon and the damage she brought.

"This crowns it." Judgment. The raising of the dead. Their goal, what the Seeker was looking for in the maze.

"This lies behind it."

The Knight of Swords. A young rash male, whose folly started it all: Adam.

"This lies beneath it."

The Ace of Clubs. Powerful. Part of the maze. Old magic... what caused the gorgons to be, what could be found in the maze... or the magic which caused the maze to exist."

"This lies ahead of it."

The eight of swords. Great danger. The maze would not give its secrets easily.

Four more cards. The first was usually the subject's image of itself, but how could an inanimate object have a self image? Still it might help the seeker to know how to view the search.

Ten of cups. A card of unselfish love, or giving without expecting return.

The next one, the environmental influences. The wheel. Too many dangers, and opportunities.

The next one was the Chariot. The position of the emotions. Daring. Rashness.

And the last one, the outcome. Ace of Swords. Victory.

Amy looked at it, then she spoke. "The Knight of Swords will ride the Chariot. Adam is the one who can find his way, since he touched the gorgon's fresh blood. And by seeking an answer he will perform an act of contrition for the harm he's caused."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Adam swallowed hard. Yes, he did want to help. He knew that his only hope for a decent life lay in helping. But what Angelique proposed to him.. it was dangerous, wasn't it?

But he could not refuse. Not unless he wanted to leave Collinsport for good and change his name.

And yes, he did want Maggie and Joe to be brought back. He remembered his offer when this all started... he had not honestly thought that he could do much.

He could not back down now.

What would Quentin say if he did not do it? He wanted Quentin to think well of him, above all else. If he now denied his help, Quentin might disavow him, and if Quentin disavowed him what was left for him? Carolyn? She would despise more than ever. Was there anyone in town who would stand up for him?

No one. And this time they were right to hate and despise him. m It might have been undeserved in 1968, but not so now.

He had to regain his self-respect, even at this price.

"All right. I am going to do it."

* * *

Barnabas and Julia were already there. Barnabas had the wands in his hand and looked as if he was going to throw them.

"I told you that you cannot make that journey. You might not come back, and you know why."

"Still...":

"We want someone who will return, not get lost there. That is Adam now. That's what Amy said."

Barnabas grudgingly gave the wands back.

"I am ready to begin. " Adam said.

"Throw the wands."

Adam obeyed.

It was a favorable hexagram. Not wholly favorable, as there would be danger, but much better than the one Angelique had thrown when she had tried herself.

"Concentrate on the hexagram. Visualize a door with the hexagram on it."

"I... I see it."

"Wait until it opens, then go in."

"It is opening..."

"Move towards it. Enter it."

Then Adam said no more He kept staring ahead, in a trance.

"Well, he's gone in. We have to make sure that he is not disturbed till he comes back and he can report."

"For how long will he be like this?'

"It is difficult to tel. I suspect that it is gong to be a much larger journey than any you ever made. And with luck, he'll get what we all want, and he will undo the damage he caused."

* * *

The corridor extended before him. And another door, leading to other corridor, which lead to another door. There were doors in the corridor, at the sides, but they were closed. They would not let him pass, so he knew that, for a while at least, there was only one path ahead for him.

There were more doors leading to corridors, and corridors leading to doors. Corridors and doors, endlessly. He wondered if there was an end of it, if he would reach something that was not a corridor leading to a door, leading to...

It could stretch towards infinity... Or maybe it was circular. There was actually one corridor and one door, and he walked in it and would walk forever...

Maybe he should take his chances with one of the side doors. No that would only make it easier to get lost, not to mention what he could find out there...

He wished now that he had refused... well, too late to do it. He could go back, true, but suspected that that might not do much good in this maze. It was a maze, they told him. He could get lost if he did not keep to the straight and narrowly.

Now sounds came from the walls of the corridors. Even words. He could not make out what they said, but they seemed to be bad news.

He could not be killed in this journey. His physical body had remained behind. If worse came to worse, Angelique could bring him back. That was her reason for not going herself. No one could bring her back if she got stuck...

Damn it, was there anything there but doors and corridors?

* * *

Carolyn looked at the entranced Adam. "What did you do to him?" she asked Angelique.

"He's gone into the I Ch'ing maze to find a cure for Maggie and Joe."

"You forced him to do it?"

"He volunteered. And it was safest for him of all of us."

"You mean that it is dangerous?"

"There is some danger, yes. And it is more dangerous for Maggie and Joe if he does not go."

"It is my fault." Carolyn said. "I treated him rotten. I never cared. No wonder he went after mermaids."

"Look, patching up your marriage will have to wait. Now we need to know what he can find out."

* * *

Another corridor. And another corridor. And another. he had lost count of them by now. He wondered if there was anything anywhere, except corridors.

He thought again that he had been caught in a circular path. Going over and over exactly the same corridor.

And yet he sensed that he was reaching his destination...

There was a grumbling sound just ahead, and the light seemed to change.

Maybe... could he hope that this was it, that he was going to find what Angelique had sent him for?

All of a sudden he was on grass. Not walking. Floating over it...

Nearby was the sea, and ships on it.

Old ships, which sailed on oars and wind...

And there was an old man, with a long white beard, standing over a promontory, looking at the coming ships.

It was not the coastline of Collinsport. He doubted that he was in America, either. Maybe ancient Greece... at least that's what seemed like by the design of the ships.

He knew that he was invisible to them, that he could approach and see what was happening. What, if anything, it had to do with mermaids and gorgons.

The ships neared the shore, and several men descended. One of them, wore an iron circlet over his head, from which bones protruded. A king, maybe. And next to the king was a young boy. The king's son and heir, by then looks of it.

The old man turned to the king. "Hail, lord." he said.

Adam was a bit surprised that he could understand them. It was not English that they spoke.

"Hail, wise one." the king said.

"You have come at last."

"I have come. Those guardians you promised, are they ready?"

"They are."

"Show them to me, and their powers."

"Their effect is deadly. You better bring a slave for me to demonstrate."

"As you wish. But if you deceive me, you shall pay dearly for it."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

They brought one of the rowing slaves forward. He was young, yet stooped from his labor and the beatings. There was blood still running down his back. His hair was matted and one of his eyes was missing. There was a bad odor about him as if he suffered from some infection.

Adam noted this, as the man was chained to the rocks on the shore.

The waves washed the slave's feet. He looked at them resignedly. He knew that he was going to die, but not by drowning...

Mermaids began to appear on top of the waves, dancing gracefully amid the white foam.

"You call these guardians?" the king said angrily "is that how they will keep thieves and invaders away, by luring them with their charms?"

"No, not these, though they are related. They are needed to keep the number of guardians steady. No, in order to see what I have prepared I must call it." he produced a small flute. "We must hide behind the rocks" he warned the men.

When the men had all hid behind the rocks, hen played on the flute. Not the sounds that told the guardians that food was ready, but the one alerting them to the presence of a predator of their young.

There was a ripple, an underwater surge below. Adam knew with a sick certitude what it was. The gorgon was in her way."

"Here comes the guardian" the wizard said. "observe its powers."

The gorgon rose slowly, ready to find the enemy of her kind. He eyes were locked in the petrifying gaze. Her eyes met the figure of the slave...

"He's turned to stone!" the king shouted.

"Yes" the wizard said "that's what the guardians can do, and even when not using that power, its claws and teeth can dispatch any intruder that is unwise enough to try to steal from you."

"And you control it with this flute?"

"Yes. And I will teach you how to use it. Only you will be able to control the guardian.

The king went down to the beach, as the gorgon had once more gone beneath the waves. He wanted to examine the petrified slave. He was quite pleased with the guardian that the wizard had crated for him.

The wizard quickly brought the flute to his lips again.

The gorgon rose, death in her eyes. And this time she looked upon the king.

There was one short scream from the king, then silence. Then laughter among the men. Laughter from then one who had paid the wizard to murder the king, so as to seize the throne

And there were screams. The king's son screamed, knowing that he was no longer the king's son, but a fatherless, defenseless boy among men who cared not for him. Adam saw this, how the boy's neck was stretched out, and the usurper blandished his knife.

"Do not kill him.:" the wizard said.

""Why not?"

'He's my payment. I want him as my slave."

"Your slave and what else?"

"My property. A payment due to me. It is not wise to seek to cheat a wizard of his wages." the wizard said, playing with his flute. "Give me the boy or you will not live to claim the throne."

For a moment the usurper hesitated. Just one moment. His good sense returned. To antagonize a wizard was sure death.

"All right." he pushed the boy towards the wizard. "He's yours now."

The wizard chained the boy and picked up a switch. "Walk now. I will teach you to be satisfactory slave to me."

The boy screamed and Adam felt anger as the switch fell on the boy's flesh cutting it.

"You see how helpless you are, boy" the wizard said, after his arm had become tired. "It is a useful lesson to learn when you have been a king's son. There will be more lessons for you to learn. Better learn them or I will put you in a sack and throw you into the sea."

Then the whole scene became fuzzy, out of focus.

Then it was gone.

Adam was back in the corridors, going through them again, but in the reverse direction.

And then, after endless corridors, he came to the last door.

He went through it, and was back a the table, staring at the wands, with Angelique bending eagerly before him.

"Did you find anything?"

He nodded.

"Tell us about it."

He did. How the gorgons and mermaids were created by a wizard at the request of a king, and how the gorgon had been used to murder that king.

Angelique wanted more of a description of the wizard, the clothing he wore, and any jewelry. She wanted to know about the ship that had brought the king to the wizard's home. Anything that would help her place the wizard in its time and place.

"Did he say what he planned to do with the boy?'

"To be his slave. he told the boy that he had many lessons to learn."

"A boy, not a girl?"

"Yes."

"And told him that he'd be drowned in a sack if he failed to learn?'

"Yes."

"An old time sorcerer then. The kind that enslaved vampires... There was a time where the only disciples that sorcerers took were slaves. This way the Art was passed only to those most worthy. If the slave was talented then he or she was taught more. If not, they could expect to be drowned in a sack... And wizards male or female only took disciples of their same sex. So that their couplings produced no children which would make them softheaded, their parental pride making them see talent where there was none..."

Adam was nauseated , understanding what the wizard would to the boy.

So it was for centuries. Until some wizard mated with the opposite sex and children resulted. And maybe at that time the vampires revolted successfully... In any case, we know only bits and pieces of that time...

"So the slaves became wizards after a while?'

"After they proved stronger than their masters and killed them.. It might well be that the boy you saw ended up killing his master and taking his place."

"Or endedin a sack at the button of the sea...

"Well, we know at least where mermaids and gorgons come from." Amy said. "But we still do not know what do about the statues or how to bring them to life.":

"The wizard might know." Adam said

"It might be dangerous to continue spying on him. If he knows he is being observed, he might tack us here. I do not wish to tackle with an old style sorcerer. Not in my state" Angelique said.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Angelique reread the notes. As she suspected, Stokes had compiled a few of the legends about the Old Time sorcerers. Some of it quite useful, knowing what they knew. Megan could ask some of the older vampires for whatever information they might have. That might be hard sometimes, since the memories were too painful for some of them to share. But others, with the passage of time, and the awareness that they had prevailed were willing to talk.

One of the facts that was stressed was that no spell was complete without a counter spell to nullify it. It was most foolish to create something that you could not control.

And if the gorgon, in her haste, petrified someone that was useful to you, did not make sense to know how to de-petrify him or her?

Another trip to the maze might be necessary, dangerous as it might be.

But there must be a way to shields oneself from detection. Maybe the wizard had not sensed Adam's presence. Or if he did, was wary of being spied on by another sorcerer, and was waiting to see if it was repeated.

There had to be a way to contact _another_ sorcerer. One who might be unaware.

Or one who could be willing to talk to you, for a price.

What they could not do was to send Adam again, to lay a trail that led back to Collinsport. Because the wrath of an Old Time wizard was a terrible thing.

* * *

Quentin listened to Adam, as Adam told of his adventures in the maze.

"Well, that was helpful."

"But I wonder what good it did. Angelique did not say anything of sending me back."

"Well, she may have other ways of getting the information."

"I wish they sent me back."

Quentin sighed. "The boy has been dead centuries ago. There is nothing that you can do to help him."

"I want to.:"

"It is risky to change history. You never know what an action of your in the past can do to the present. Most of those effects you will not like.. No, better leave the past alone."

"But.."

"There are plenty of abused and exploited children here and now. Those you can help."

"Buff if I were to go back and find the answer for Maggie and Joe."

"Adam, don't even think about it."

"About what?"

"Going into the maze by yourself."

"But if it were to help Maggie and Joe, it would make it up for what I did before."

Quentin sighed. Adam was going to try it, unless he was stopped. Better let Angelique knock some sense into him.

* * *

Urien let a low whistle. "You mean _both_ Joe Haskell and Representative Evans are in your cellar now?

"Yes. Both turned to stone."

"But how? It is too flaky, too weird. These things don't happen."

"You know better than that."

"Yeah..." Urien swallowed "I am sorry, is there anything...?"

"That you can do? No, Julia and Angelique are taking care of it. At this moment I am just a bystander myself."

Urien accepted it. If Barnabas could do nothing, then he, Urien could do even less.

"And what about you?"

"I start classes next semester."

He would not tell Barnabas of the dreams he had. Barnabas had enough worries without that.

Barnabas hung up and went down to the cellar again. He did not know what good it did to look at Maggie and Joe, but he kept coming back.

* * *

"Can you get Vicky back?" Carolyn asked Megan.

"Can you get the sea out of Collinsport?:"

"But, you made me do what I did not want to do. You made me..."

"And because of that I am supposed to make Vicky and Phillip come back to what is a hazardous place for him? They should have moved inland as soon as he was let out of the hospital. "

"You were not so scrupulous with me?"

"Why? Because I forced you to solve a problem that had been simmering too long in your factory? It needed done. Because I made you deal with a clear and present danger that Roger was? Would you have preferred that he killed someone and be locked for life?"

"You made me make friends, made me change the way I dealt with people"

"I gave you good advice, which you followed up to a point. But I cannot patch your relationship with Vicky now... Only you can do it. Invite her over. Visit her. Talk to her on the phone. And deal with hear equal to equal. On the other hand, I can give you advice on how to patch up your relationship with Adam."

'Him!"

"From what I understand, there is blame on both sides."

"I apologized to him."

"And he was not willing? have you any idea how much you hurt him?"

"But..."

Megan sighed. What had she gotten into? It had seemed a simple thing once. To put Carolyn under control so that she dealt with some serious issues. Now she was stuck in the role of Dear Abby.

* * *

"You will come to the wedding, won't you?" Derek asked George "we are going to have a real wedding, Roxanne and I."

"Of course, I will. After all, I was the one who brought the two of you together, sort of."

Yet something about it made him uneasy. He hoped for the best, both for Derek and Roxanne. But something told him that this was not the way it was supposed to be...

But what was supposed to be, he could not fathom.

* * *

"Adam is tied up in my room." Quentin said "I knocked him out and tied him up. You can go reason with him. Or have Barnabas or Megan bite sense into him."

"Why?" Angelique asked.

"Because he wants to go into the maze all by himself."

"He wouldn't... I told him what the danger was."

"Of course, you told him. And so did I. But Adam does not pay attention. He's too much of a child. This will take more than advice. He needs stronger measures."

"Fine, I will go deal with him.

* * *

Adam had gotten loose. He had found a matchbook and risked a fire burring the rope that bound him.

He did not try to force the door open. There were still matches in the matchbook. Six of them. He used his fingernails to make the appropriate marks on them. Then he threw them before him.

He wondered about the configuration he got. What was it?

But whatever it was, he was going into the maze again.

"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Adam stared at the matchsticks And out of them a door rose. it opened and Adam went inside. He bolted the door behind him. He would not have anyone interrupting him.

Then it was the corridors... not the same corridor as the last time... Of course, it had been a different hexagram... he wondered what that hexagram meant. He hoped that it was not an unfavorable one...

If it was...

Maybe he should have listened to Angelique and Quentin... but it was too late for that. He just had to plunge ahead.

* * *

She hoped that she could talk sense into him, before they had to go on to more drastic measures...

Adam laid slumped over the table., not moving...

Hadn't Quentin tied him up?

Angelique went to poke him.

* * *

He was back in the maze. Corridors and doors. Just as they had been before A sense of being caught in a single, eternal, circular corridor, with no escape...

And yet these were not the same corridors that he had gone thorough the last time.

He hoped that they led to the same point. And that when he got there, he would still be invisible to the wizard.

Some of the doors at the sides were slightly open. And while many seemed to lead to another corridors, there were others... Bright colors emanated from one of them, bright colors with a metallic cast. And then another door gave an impression of foliage. He felt almost tempted to go in and find what was at the other side. He did not.

He had a destination, and could not take side trips.

And then he found the last door and went through it.

* * *

"No! " Angelique screamed as she saw the hexagram made of matchsticks. 'He's done it, this time."

The hexagram was Courting Disaster. It had other meanings, something to do with the price of rashness..

She saw it clearly. Adam being caught by the wizard. The wizard learning where Adam came from. The wizard attacking Collinsport to protect his secrets.

She put her hands on the matchsticks, dispersing them. Destroying the hexagram might help.

Adam slumped.

She had to do it, she said to herself. It was his life or theirs. All of them, Everyone in town. Adam could not be saved, not since he had stepped into the maze...

And then Adam vanished...

Just as Barnabas had in 1897...But then it had been the Leviathans who had captured the body... Adam's body was probably lost in the maze, reunited with his ethereal body...

He might die here of hunger and thirst. Or step out into an unwelcoming endpoint and be killed...

Or his physical body and his astral bodies were kept apart, both lost in the maze...

In any case she had doomed him.

No, he had doomed himself. That he wanted to help Joe and Maggie was no excuse.

* * *

He was again invisible. He was at the side of the wizard's dwelling (he would not call it a castle, for it was too rough and primitive for that, but it was to impressive to call it a hut).

He saw a young man nearby. He seemed familiar... Of course, it was the king's son, now grown older.

The king's son looked around, making sure that the was not observed. What he was going to try, he did not want the wizard to know (he did not want to think of the wizard as his master, though all who knew him called him that... even if the wizard exercised full master's rights over him). There was a chance that the a few careless words that the wizard had let slip last night was the answer.

He caught a goat and dragged it to the beach, where the statues, both of the king and the slave, stood guard. He could not avoid seeing them every day. He suspected that the wizard wanted it that way, to impress even more his helplessness on him... that his only hope from mildness from the wicked old man was in his obedience, diligence, and skill in the Art.

But now it would be different.

He killed the goat, tearing out its heart, then sprinkled the blood on the statue of the king.

"Live!" he told the statue. "Come back to me, father and avenge me both of us! Live!"

The blood fell on the statue, the droplets boiling on the surface.

But the statue remained a statue.

"So, you had to try it!" the wizard said behind him. "Just as I thought!"

The young man turned around. "You murdered him!"

"Yes. For a price. And he killed his slave who now sits by his side. I notice that you did not try to bring _him_ back."

"He's only a slave."

"And so are you. Or have I not taught that enough to you? You may need a fresh lesson.

"Kill me now and end it! I will not submit to you again! I am a king's son!"

The wizard's fist send him sprawling.

"Don't you dare tell me what to do with you! I and only I will decide whether or not to drown you in a sack. You are my slave, king's son." he glowered at him. "Only a slave can become a wizard. Only when you have tasted the dregs of powerlessness will you have the hunger that will allow to conquer what I have conquered. Depend on no one, even on me! Trust no one. Regard no one except those whose power is greater than yours. Pity no one, for pity will be your undoing. Power shall be your only god, and He will reward you richly." he took a thong and used it to bind the young man's wrists behind him, then forced him to stand. "Look at it." he said lifting him by the hair and making look at the statue. "He is weak, helpless. Why should you care for him any more than you care for the one next to him? He lost. He is nothing now. What can he give you? He can't be of help. Even if you restored him, and you might if you used the right blood, he could not help you against me. He would fall again to a more painful death. And you would watch while it was being done. He is nothing but a weakness of yours, and I do not enjoy weakness. I shall punish you for it now."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"Have you any luck?" Barnabas asked Julia.

"I keep trying.. But, damn it, I am not even sure what I am looking for, nor what kind of handle I can get on it... If I had a better idea what I am dealing with. I suspect that the answer might be a very simple one, but until I ask the right question I will not get it. Now, _what_ is the right question?"

"It must be very frustrating" Barnabas commiserated.

"It is. What about Angelique? Does she have any better luck?"

"She leaned that it was an ancient sorcerer's spell. She is asking Megan to contact any vampire who was enslaved by a an ancient sorcerer for what they might remember... It is one good thing about living that long. You remember details that would have been forgotten otherwise. Of course it being long ago the memories can dilute, or be too painful to remember.."

"In any case, they are a resource, which is more than we used to have. On the other hand, we lost Adam, the damn fool."

"What happened?"

"He went into the I Ch'ing maze all by himself. They tried to warn him off, but he did it anyway. Angelique destroyed the hexagram, dooming him... she said that if she did not do it, we could all be destroyed. His body disappeared... as it happened with me when Edward destroyed _my_ hexagram."

"It is a pity."

"Yes. Damn it. Why did he have to be so stupid and stubborn? Granted, he wanted to help Maggie and Joe. But why couldn't he listen to those who knew better than him? Maybe he was determined to destroy himself."

"Maybe he just wanted to be a hero, save the day for everybody, just like in the movies. Only it does not work that way. Damn it, I wish that Angelique did not have to do it."

"Yes..."

"Was it really dangerous to let him go on?"

"The sorcerer at the other end of the maze is a powerful one and not inclined towards kindliness. Ancient sorcerers were highly paranoid, afraid of other sorcerers stealing their secrets. He would sense Adam's presence, think it was an enemy spy, traced him back, and conducted, as the Pentagon puts it, a preemptive strike against us."

Julia nodded. She understood why it had to be done. ... But still, Adam had been her child, her only child for a while.

"Quentin took it bad and I don't blame him. He owes Adam a great deal. But Angelique could not let Adam endanger us. He already cost us Maggie and Joe. It should stop there."

* * *

It had to be blood, Adam thought. The blood of some creature or other.

Maybe it could be the blood of the wizard himself...

It was worth a try...

But he did not know it for sure, and if he used the wizard's blood and it did not work, what then? He either killed the wizard, who could not tell him more, or the wizard lived, and was ready for revenge.

There were plenty of other creatures around. Ordinary creatures like goats. Or the more fantastic ones like the gryphon perched on that tree...

Maybe even the blood of mermaids...

Yes, the blood of the male of the species...

He would try later on, at night, when the wizard was asleep. He would have to lure the mermaid, capture it, and use its blood to bring back either the king or the slave. Then he'd bring the mermaid's blood with him, and restore Maggie and Joe.

They would be grateful to him once he had done it. They would forgive him his stupidity. Carolyn might warm up to him again... he would show them all that he was no longer a fool...

There were plenty of mermaids on the waves, trying to attract unwary human males. But they were not close enough.

He would need some sort of net. And some cup to collect the blood. And a knife.

A sharpened stone that he found on the ground would do for the knife... He looked up at a nearby tree. It had large fruits... grapefruits. A hollowed rind of grapefruit would do for a cup.. As for the net, he could use his jacket. He could lure a mermaid by looking like prey and then throw the jacket on top tying the sleeves around it.

In the dwelling, the wizard had finished punishing the disciple, who now lay whimpering and bleeding at his feet.

"You would like to kill me, don't you?" And maybe you will, if you are strong enough." he moved away from him. "Only a wizard can kill a wizard, and you are not one yet. Those who try and fail do not live to tell of it, thought heir deaths are usually slow and painful. Being drowned in a sack would be a kindness compared to the death I can inflict on you if you fail to kill me. Think about it."

"I... I am sorry, master."

"Yes, you are sorry you failed, Yet you will try.. I wonder if you will be the one? I wonder if you are my fate. Not that it matters. Now I can do what I wish with you."

"I know you can kill me if you want..."

The wizard laughed. "You doubt me, don't you? You think me soft and weak. You are stupid enough that because I use your body for pleasure that I am falling in love with you. You think that I may have pity on you... If I had pity for you, I would drown you in a sack and spare much worse pain. But I take more pleasure in tormenting you than in anything else I do to you. The more excuses you give me to punish you, the more I enjoy it. You would have died long ago from the injuries I inflict on you were it not for my healing skills that take away the damage but leave the pain as a reminder I will now set your dislocated shoulders, for you are useless to me if you cannot move your arms properly." He put his hands on the disciples' shoulders and sent healing energy to them.

The slave hollered. Being healed always hurt worse than the original injury.

Was there a way that he could kill the wizard? If he studied the books, would they show him how?

Adam took advantage of the screams, trying not to think about their source, to come close to the shore. There was nothing that he could do for the boy. He tried not to imagine what the wizard was doing to him...

He better turn his attention to attracting and capturing a mermaid.

They were still there, trying to entice him with their bodies. (He did not stop to think that it meant that he was no longer invisible). He just walked up and down the beach and mermaids approached, their hair streaming behind them, and their bare breasts bouncing invitingly on the water. If he had not know that those were males, he would have fallen for them again... Even now, it hurt to know how all that loveliness was wasted...

He let them approach, feigning interest, while at the same time seeming to fear the water.

Did they approach to feed the gorgon or to feed themselves? He now knew that those sharp teeth were used on prey. Not just fish, but quite often human flesh. "His" mermaid had not tried to eat him, but then he wanted him to feed a ravenous female before mating. If not, he would have been devoured by those needle sharp teeth,...

They came close enough. One of them extended his arm to him.

He caught the mermaid by the hair and pulled him on the beach.

The mermaid screamed, beat his tail forcefully and tried to bite. But Adam was quick, and cut his throat. Not cleanly, because the stone was not that sharp. But the large vessel was severed...

He colleted all the blood he could in the rind, in spite of the thrashing of the dying mermaid, and threw in on the statue next to him.

Laughter filled the air.

"That blood will not help you' the wizard said behind him.

He turned. The wizard was behind him, smiling malevolently.

"Who are you? A spy? Yes, they sent you to spy on me. Who was it?"

"I... no one..." Adam stammered.

"You will tell me soon enough." he extended his arm towards Adam and touched him.

Adam screamed and tried to run away. But the wizard only laughed louder.

Adam fell down and began shaking. Something was happening to him... something...

The wizard picked him up on the palm of his hand.

"Yes, that size is right for you. I will keep you till you tell me all that I want to know. They I will give you as a toy to my cat... or to my slave."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Tammy entered the Old House. It was daytime, and Barnabas had given her a key (even if he did not bother to lock up at all)

It looked so desolate in there. No one to be with her. She found herself resenting the fact that Barnabas was resting comfortably behind the library. How could he sleep? How could he be so cut off from the world around him?

She knew that it was unfair and ridiculous to blame him. Yet, if he and Quentin had not insisted on saving Adam, this would not have happened.

She went down the cellar, where the statues were kept. Maggie and Joe, next to each other. Former sweethearts reunited at last. No one could pry them apart now...

She wept freely. Then as her tears flowed, an idea came to her...

Maybe...

Using her fingertips, she pressed her tears against Joe's cheeks. Maybe that was all that was needed, after all... She touched Joe's lips and eyes, then stepped back hoping to see a change...

No change came. This was no fairy tale.

But there had to be a way! And if her tears did not do the trick, then...

She pressed her lips against Joe's, breathing into his mouth, willing him to live.

And it did not good.

Damn it, was there anything at all that would work?

* * *

"Urien, what are these pills?" David showed them to Urien.

"They help me sleep. And they are legal."

"I know that they are legal. And that you can get hooked on them too."

"I am done with drugs... And frankly I do not want to deal with the stuff again. I am not like the other students who think that they can play with them, because if it gets too bad their families will rescue them. I have more sense than that."

"Yeah, I have no worry that you will keep away from pot, and heroin, and cocaine, or meth, for that matter. But still there are dangers."

"Not me."

"Students take sleep aids to help them sleep. And then pep pills to keep themselves awake when they are studying for tests. All legal, all taken with the best intentions. And they screw up their systems that way. I do not want that to happen to you."

"I...I needed them."

"Yes, you did. But you should try sleeping without them."

Urien did not answer. Could he confide on David, tell him about the dreams about Robert Loomis? And that Loomis did not come alone... Or tell him about the feeling of dream in this apartment?

He wished that he could discuss it with Barnabas. Or Dr. Hoffman. But they had enough troubles of their own now...

* * *

Adam did not know for how long he had been in the box. He was aware of being hungry at times, but there was something about his state that dulled his senses, so it came and went...

The wizard had questioned him extensively, and he had given up and told all. It might not have been wise, but he could not stop himself.

The wizard had not been convinced when he was done. He had put on the lid and said that he would return the next day, and that he'd better think what to tell him next time, or the questioning would get ugly.

He was in a pickle... and he could only blame himself,. He should have listened to Angelique and Quentin...

The lid lifted and a bright light shone on him. Above him loomed the face of the disciple.

"He is asleep" the disciple said. "He does not wake easily. Now you will tell me what you did not tell him."

"I told him all."

"No, you didn't. You were sent here by an enemy of his, only you got caught. We can help each other."

"I can't help you." Adam shook his head "I am not what he thinks I am. I only came to help people who live far, far away."

"You will help me kill me. That's the only way I will be free. Tell me what the price is, and I shall pay it."

Adam shook his head. "There is nothing that I can do."

"Oh, yes, there is. Maybe you don't believe me. Maybe you think that I still serve him, that he sent me to you. Or that his punishments have so terrified me that I dare not betray him. It is not so."

"You can't prove it"

"He inflicts pain and more pain on me. He takes his pleasure with me, but only if I am writhing in pain when he does it. He heals me, but not before. he satiates his lust."

"I know. And I also know that he teaches you the Art., and that you wish to know more."

The disciple went pale, and Adam knew that he had guessed right.

"I hate him! I will kill him when I can."

"And you can't yet, because he has much to teach you yet... Anyway, I can't tell you more than I told him. That is the truth."

They young man bit his lips and picked Adam up.

"You will tell me. If not to help me, then to save your own skin."

He took Adam into the kitchen. The food gathered there made Adam's mouth water... if the young man were to feed him..

He did not. He just laid him on the ground.

And not far away was a huge cat.

"Markbooher is a good mouser." the young man said. "and you do look like a mouse. Now, will you tell me what I want to know, or do I set him loose on you?"

"But I can't..." Adam looked with horror at the huge cat, its large paws, its teeth, so huge... And it had seen him. It followed him with his eyes, ready to pounce on him as soon as the young man gave him permission.

"Who sent you to spy on the old man? Who is it what wants him dead? Tell him that I will cooperate if only I can have his severed head."

Adam said nothing and the young man picked up the cat.

"Do I loosen him on you?"

The cat, emboldened, threw a swipe of its paw at Adam.

Adam managed to evade it.

The cat tried again, coming closer, it mouth opening to crush that most attractive morsel he saw in front of him.

Adam flattened himself against the wall, screaming, sure that it was no use, that this was the end.

And then he was gone.

The young man scrammed in rage, and so did the cat.

The wizard stood at the door. "So you failed, too."

"I thought that he would tell me." he answered "but he vanished."

"Vanished? Where? In the cat's gullet?"

"No, just vanished. I would not let the cat get him... He was just there, and then he was gone. Whoever sent him to us must have called him back."

"Of course. That's why I put him in that box. But taking him out, you allowed him to escape."

"I did not mean.."

"I know what you meant. It is not thus that you will kill me. But there is a price for failure, and you will pay it."

The boy paled. The wizard was going to kill him.

The wizard laughed. "Not such luck. You will live. I will flay you alive, of course, but you will live. You know that I always heal you afterwards."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"I will stop him." the wizard said, while reaching for a jar on top of the shelf "Then I will deal with you."

In the jar were several small scorpions. He laid them on the floor and let them run free. "Go seek the one who escaped from me. Catch him and pick his bones clean."

* * *

Adam was back in the labyrinth. With luck he'd find his way back into Collinsport, and then he'd tell Angelique what he had found out, and Julia could start testing different types of blood...

The corridors seemed strange. Had he been around this place before? Or was he lost?

No, he could not be lost. His body had remained in Collinsport, in safety. It would drag him back, if only he allowed it to.

A thick cable fell in front of him. At least it seemed a cable. He examined it, but it told him nothing, not even where it had come from.

It had not hurt him and the fall had been gentle enough, yet it would be better to get out before more fell.

He now felt the pull becoming stronger and stronger...

More cables could be seen on the ground, as he advanced... then it struck him why the corridors loomed so large. He was still the size that the wizard had reduced him to. And those cables... they were not cables they were...

A huge forest of cables was in front of him. Only they were not cables, they were hair. And the hair belonged to the giant lying unconscious over the corridor.

No, not a giant. A normally sized man... and he looked familiar...

He was pulled towards him, sucked as if by the giant's breath and...

He opened his eyes. The giant was gone. And the corridors did not loom large any more... and he was wearing his clothes again...

He was back in his body.

But here, in the labyrinth, not safely at Collinsport?

Something had happened... the wizard had done it... or maybe...

Angelique had warned him that there was danger, and now he knew how dangerous that was.

The corridors led somewhere. If he kept in that direction, he'd get to Collinsport sooner or later.

What if he could not return? He could be there forever. He could die there, of hunger and thirst... or he could take the wrong exit...

He fought down panic. It would not help him any. He had to find the way back.

Next time, he promised himself, he would listen to what Angelique and Quentin had to say...

If there was a next time.

He rose unsteadily. He knew what direction he had come from. He had to go in the opposite.

And then he saw them advance. Five scorpions. Small, but with deadly tails.

Without thinking, he stomped on them, crushing them one by one, then he turned around and started the long way back.

* * *

The mangled bodies of the scorpions appeared before the wizard's eyes.

"How could he?" he said in spite of himself. "All five of them?"

He reached for another jar. Maybe the spy was stronger than the scorpions, but he would not be stronger than the ants. He upended the jar, letting a long stream of the deadly insects pour forth and disappear into thin air, in search of prey.

* * *

Angelique wished that she was wrong in this, but she was not.

She had to find Adam, and deal with the wizard herself, if need be.

To think that cutting Adam off would be enough to keep the wizard away had been wishful thinking of her part. The wizard would find a way to discover where Adam had come from and then...

Sitting here and hoping for the best would not avert disaster. No, the wizard had to be dealt with. And she was the only one who could do it. No one else was as qualified as she was.

Even in her state, she could not send anyone else.

She felt angry with Adam again, for risking all their necks in this crazy attempt at being a hero. She wished, earnestly wished that she could abandon him to his fate, and not worry more about him.

At least now, he would be sorely regretting not paying attention to her advice.

There was one thing to be done before she entered the I Ch'ing maze herself. She would risk her neck, if she had to, but not her child.

She turned to Amy.

"I want you to carry my child in you. Where it will be safe until I return."

Amy gulped. She wondered about her werewolf heritage, which could be transmitted to the child... but the risk was small compared to what Angelique faced. "You can trust me. I will take care of the child."

She might have misgivings she might have, it would be Angelique who would be braving danger. All she had to do was to keep and nourish the child within her body till Angelique came back. Of if she didn't, to carry the child to term, and give it to George to raise.

They stood naked, face to face, Angelique's distended abdomen pressing against her own flat one.

And then the skins seemed to grow together. And the flesh underneath. There was no pain, only this sense of movement, of something digging into her.

Angelique threw a loop of black thread around both of them and tightened it. They hearts now beat against each other as the child was conveyed, slowly, from Angelique's womb to Amy's

They did not say a word. Their hearts beat together, as if one. Calm, slow beats. And the child moved further into Amy.

Then they began to part, and the skin to close. Angelique released the thread and they stood next to each other. Amy's abdomen was distended with the child.. Angelique's was flat.

"Take good care of it." Angelique said.

"And you take good care of yourself.""

"I will."

She laid down the I Ch'ing wands and stared at them, while Amy kept her distance.

She looked hard, making the door come to her, wishing to be the door that led to Adam and the wizard. She tightened her fists. She was going through that door into her own body. If she had to fight the wizard, it would not do to diminish her powers in any way.

The door opened. She rose and walked into it. Then it closed behind her.

Amy looked at the chair where Angelique had been and at the wands. She would make sure that they were not disturbed in any way.

And soon, she hoped, Angelique would be back, and Adam, and the danger would be past, and they would have an answer for Tammy and Joe.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

"How do you think that Megan will react to this?" Amy asked Barnabas, after explaining what Angelique had done.

"She might get cranky, specially if Angelique does not come back. But she will accept that Angelique had to do it. No one else could. I can take the blame for it."

"Why should it be your fault?'

"It has to be somebody's fault. Might as well be me. I started this whole mess, after all, when I first kidnapped Maggie, and then created Adam... Adam is not around to put the blame on... I think that Adam would prefer facing an angry Megan than whatever he is facing now."

"She can get quite angry. I take it."

"Not as much as I can. She is a very reasonable person. It is not her fault that she has to deal with blockheads like me."

"If Angelique does not come back..."

"She will come back. She's been in tough scrapes before. She is far from defenseless. As she said, she was the best qualified to go in there. At least her child is safe."

"Yes... She said that that would keep George happy..."

Barnabas nodded. He knew how much George wanted to have this child... It still amazed him that he had been able to father a child... that it had been done under duress, threatened with a whip if he did not do it, did not matter. It was his child and he treasured it.

"You know, Angelique is my wife. or at least used to be. She became a widow when I died, then I killed her and became a widower. I frankly don't know if our marriage is still valid or not. After all, we are still around, both of us. So it is somewhat amusing that my lover got my wife pregnant."

Amy smiled at that.

"I hope that Chris does not drop in unexpectedly and you have to explain how you got pregnant. 'I am holding it for a friend.'?"

"Chris isn't making much of a Big Brother act these days. He has children of his own to care for."

'You told me once you had a boyfriend."

"Yes, Peter. But it never got serious. I was not serious about him... It was just that Chris was getting tiresome."

"It did not have much of a future."

"No. I cast the cards for both of us. If I was going to break off with Peter I wanted to have a good reason. The cards told me what I suspected. Marrying Peter would be a dumb mistake. They told me that I was the descendant of gypsies and Quentin Collins, and that while Chris may have the soul of a C.P.A., I could never have. I am sorry about that. I love Chris, but at heart, he is very conventional."

Barnabas nodded. He had noticed that himself. Maybe it was Chris' defense against the weirdness that surrounded him...

"So the cards told you not to marry Peter?"

"Yes."

"Did they say who you were to marry?"

"Sometimes I think that it is David. But I wonder if that is what the cards mean, or what I want them to mean."

"You could have a chance with David, now that Hallie left him. You could be a good mother for Eliot... It would be a solution for both of them."

"Yes, it would. And it does sound attractive. And yet..."

"Yet?"

"The cards that I got that time. The card that symbolized me in the spread, was the High Priestess. No, the High Priestess can symbolize many things, all good. Self-knowledge, wisdom, power exerted with responsibility. But not romantic love. She sits alone, the Book of Knowledge on her knees, from which answers come to her queries. On her back, the Veil, which covers the Holy of Holies from profane eyes. She sits, barring the way, guarding it... and alone. Not lonely, not pitying herself. Strong, self-assured, full of good humor... It may well be that David is no more my fate than Peter was."

"It would be good for David and Eliot."

"I know. I wish I was as certain as you are."

* * *

The ants crawled through the corridors. They were tiny red ants, with tiny sharp mandibles and tiny red venom glands. And there were many of them. Too many for one single man.

They went blindly ahead, following the trail, which, invisible to human eyes, was a bright, distinctive line of scent. They had only to follow where it lead, and they would find food. A large, moving chunk of warm food for them to pick apart and take to their nest.

* * *

Angelique wondered if she was following the right path. There had been a couple of times when doors opened invitingly enough. She had not stepped in, and yet she wondered if she should have. It had felt wrong at the time, but it might not be so.

She wondered if she could get back to Collinsport again, if she would not get hopelessly lost, same as Adam.

Well, as Megan says, eventually your luck runs out, and this was as good a way as any.

But no, she did not think it would happen, yet.

* * *

The disciple looked at the crushed scorpions. So the spy had gotten away. But he could not get away from the ants.

The ants would surely catch him. No one could escape them.

If only there was a way to turn those tricks against the wizard himself...

Not that he'd be given a chance. The wizard knew magic for the dangerous thing it was, and treated it accordingly. A couple of times, when his carelessness could have caused disasters, it was the wizard's intervention which had saved him. Not that did not have to pay it later... But he had survived, healed and learned. And when the pain from his torture subsided, he knew more than he had known before...

For, wicked as the wizard was, cruel as he might be, he still could impart knowledge as no one else could. And there was power behind him, a power which he now craved.

He was going to be a wizard one day. Same as the old man. Greater.

He would never be a king, not like his father, now a statue by the sea... No, he would be someone to whom kings gave homage, to whom they owed their throne, and never were allowed to forget it...

He should avenge his father, he tried to remind himself. He should avenge himself.

Yes, he should. But not before the old man taught him all that there was to learn.

He hated the old man. And yet there was something in him that compelled respect He had power. He knew how to use it, and because of that, he had the right to do as he wished.

The only way to stop him was to be powerful himself. To become as the wizard was. To take what he wanted, to enjoy power at its fullest.

He suffered now because he was weak. If he were to become strong, then it would be a different story.

If the spy lived, if the enemy should attack again, then, maybe...

The enemy wizard might let him live. Might even award him the wizard's head. It would be easier for the other sorcerer or sorceress to have an untested disciple take over the wizard's territory instead of allowing a tougher enemy to take over...

They might try to annex it, and they would find no use for the disciple... but no, annexing that big a territory might frighten other sorcerers who might join forces against the too powerful wizard next to them...

The life of an untutored disciple, with only the severed head of his master to guide him was fraught with danger...But it was a chance...

Was it better to endure more pain from the wizard, hoping to learn more:? Or should she chance the life of the untutored disciple attempting to rule a wizard's territory.?

* * *

Adam heard the footsteps approaching. He looked around for a good place to hide, but it was silly. Here, in the corridors?

He could open one of the doors, hide in there...

He was hopelessly lost in a wholly alien world.

The footsteps approached.. He prepared himself to jump whoever it was coming towards hi8m.

But he did not need to.

"Angelique." he said with relief. "It is you."

"Yes, it is me. And you've really done it this time, Adam."


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"So what do we do?" Adam asked Angelique, as he had finished telling his woeful tale.

"We can keep on going. The wizard is very likely tracking you down. Maybe we can escape him, but if he finds us, it should be away from Collinsport."

"Some of the other doors..." Adam suggested.

It would be risky, Angelique knew. They could go into the wrong door and never emerge again. Yet, apart from sitting there, waiting, or just going back to Collinsport, what else could they do?

And there was always the risk of getting lost..

"Not this door." she said. "it leads to dinosaurs. We could end up chewed by a hungry Pterodon, or stomped on by a Brontosaurus."

Adam gulped at that.

"It did not realize it could be so dangerous."

"No, you did not realize. That is your problem. Well, Quentin says that you will grow up eventually, if you only live long enough.

Adam accepted this in as much good grace as possible. He could do little else.

"So what can we do now? We are stuck, is that what you are saying?"

"Not necessarily. There are doors that lead to relatively safe places. I believe that I can recognize them. In the meantime we walk around. No, not in that direction." she stopped Adam who had stated walking already "We don't want to lead anyone to Collinsport."

So they went back, retracing Adam's steps into the maze.

Angelique knew that she was afraid. It was not as easy as she had made it sound to Adam. Maybe all she could accomplish was to get both of them killed.

But if it was so, the wizard would believe that she was the enemy who had sent Adam to him, and be content with her death, so Collinsport would be spared a tragedy.

If she died thus, maybe it would help make up for the damage he had caused to so many... collateral damage of her pursuit of Barnabas...

But she would not die easily. She would fight hard to the end.

It was then that they saw the ants.

First there were only a few of them, and they were small and easy to miss. But they were there, and one of them got close enough to nip Angelique's foot.

What were ants doing in a place like this? They could not survive...

"You said that you found scorpions."

"Yes. They gave me little trouble. But still they seemed determined to fight me."

"When he sent the scorpions, he believed that you were still the size he had reduced you to. The scorpions would have done the job. When he didn't, he got the ants."

"But these ants, they are so small..."

"But enough of them...Adam, you remember that door, the one that led to the dinosaurs?"

"Yes."

"Run for it! "

There were a lot more ants by now. And Adam could see a thick dark mass at the end of the corridor, coming at them. He had to run!

There was just no end of it.

Luckily he could run faster than the ants, and Angelique showed the way.

"Yes." this is the door. " Angelique said. "help me open it."

The door refused to budge and Adam began to sweat. Not that it was that urgent... still... he did not want the ants to come and find them... he thought of the dark mass coming at them, nothing but ants, hundreds, thousands... millions of ants... all of them with sharp mandibles, which could pick his flesh bit by bit till only the bones remained..

And indeed one ant turned the corner and moved its antennae, picking up the scent.

Then the door opened.

Bright light came through it. The sun was shining there, and under the sun laid the greenest, most luxuriant vegetation that Adam had ever seen... And the scent of it reached him..

The ants were closer now, and they moved in their direction... and through the door Adam could see the shapes...

Could they really be dinosaurs?

If one of them came through the door...

The ants came even closer.

"Be prepared to run more." Angelique said "with luck we won't have to."

She wove the scent of the world the door into the trail of scent the ants followed. It was the same scent now, but richer, more tantalizing, promising a real feast...

The ants did not hesitate. They followed the new, richer scent, and entered the dinosaur world.

Angelique let out a sight of relief.

"It will take a time for them to go through, but they will all go."

She had some misgivings about introducing the ants into what was the Earth's past, but not much. It was not a pristine, helpless paradise to which she had sent the ants. It was full of life forms which could fight the newcomers quite well. It was unlikely that great ecological damage would result. There were plenty of insect eaters to take care of the ants if they were too numerous. And if she recalled her biology, there was no breeding female among them.

One thing she knew. She had to go back and confront the wizard. He would not be content with the disappearance of the ants any more than he had been content with the fate of the scorpions.

Eventually all the ants had gone through. Angelique closed the door.

"Whew!" said Adam "that was close."

"Yes, that was close."

"Now we can go home?'

"No. We cannot go back to Collinsport."

"So where to?"

"To the wizard. We will follow the track of the ants backward."

"There? Are you crazy?"

"Sooner or later he is going to worry as to what happened to his ants. He will send something else to track us down. We can sit and wait for what that can be. or we can try taking him by surprise."

"But... that is crazy... it is suicide."

"Yes, it is. But it gives better odds. Come."

"But..."

"You picked then wrong time to learn caution, Adam. We have no choice."

* * *

The ants were all gone now. And it would take a while before they found their prey and devoured it. And a bit longer until they returned, their mission accomplished.

The wizard laid back, his eyes closed, wondering who this mysterious enemy was, and what kind of attack he might expect.

* * *

Adam shivered. The walls of the corridor suddenly felt cold.

"This is not the same corridor I came through" he said.

"No, it is a shortcut. Take care where you step. It is dangerous here."

"More than the rest of the maze?"

"A lot more. This is where lost things end up."

Adam looked down at the floor. It was indeed covered with objects of all kinds and descriptions. Some he half-recognized, but others...

"Is it the place for lost people, too?"

"Sometimes."

Laughter reached them.

"He found us!" Adam said :"the wizard!"

"No, he cannot find us here. Once here, he's lost us... that's the property of this place. While we are here, no one can trace us."

The laughter continued.

"Then who?"

"As I said, sometimes people or... well, things attached to people get lost here. Pay no attention to it. They will not attack us. They want us to become discouraged, give ourselves as lost and remain with them. So you just keep going straight ahead and pay no attention. We will got out of here, same as we came in."

The laughter continued, increasing as they moved forward. And then they saw who was laughing.

"Petofi!" Angelique said, staring at the head, which stood on top of a pole.

"Petofi?" Adam stared at the severed head, with its glassy eyes which seemed to follow him malevolently "is that him?"

"Yes."

"What happened to him?"

"The gypsies got him fifty miles from Collinsport, as you know."

'Yes, but..."

"They cut off his hand and his head. They took his hand, but his head... he had learned of the I Ch'ing from Barnabas. He had explored it before, and he thought to escape into it. The gypsies caught him before he could finish the trip, but the power of the spell was great enough so that when the head was cut off, it ended up here."

"Where all lost things end up?"

"Yes."

Adam looked at the head. "Is he alive?"

"Somewhat."

Adam stared at it, as if trying to form a thought.

"Come on," Angelique urged. "We can't stay here. We have to go on."

* * *

The wizard reclined in his seat, his eyes closed. with his head bent forward like this, his neck made a good target, the disciple thought.

Yet the wizard may not be asleep at all, but laying a trap for him. He delighted in setting such traps, which allowed him to devise cruel punishments for such transgressions...

He wondered if the wizard really expected to be killed by him... Wizards were slain by their disciples all the time, that was how it had been explained to him. It was the way it was. He accepted it, but he thought that his disciple was too dumb...

And him, what did he want? Yes, he wanted the wizard to die, he wanted to be free. But freedom by itself was not enough... Enough free men lived in dire poverty and he did not care for that. He wanted riches. He wanted power...

He wanted to be a wizard.

Would he in time take a disciple and expect to be killed by that disciple in time?

There were no other choices. Remain a slave or become the next wizard..

He did not wish to remain a slave any longer.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

"We are close to the end." Angelique said.

Adam nodded. He was almost glad. Whatever fate waited for them would take them, at least, away from this place.

"I can sense the door" her hand pointed to a spot on the wall, all covered with black slime.

"There?' he asked with dismay, thinking that he could not bear to touch _that_.

"Yes. There."

* * *

The wizard grinned. He had set the trap where he had sensed more spies were coming, and soon it would spring.

Then he would get to ask his questions.

There were ripples in the air above the door, and suddenly there was a man and a woman standing side by side.

He laughed. "You are inside my circle and can't step out of it. You cannot go back, either. I have you."

Angelique realized that it was true. They had fallen into a trap.

"You said..." Adam protested.

"This would not have happened if you had not gone in this journey by yourself." she whispered. Then she looked up, trying to sound pitiful m "he is right. We are caught"

"Who are you?" the wizard asked, mercilessly.

Angelique realized that their only chance was in his underestimating her. She had to look helpless. Youthful and inexperienced, not a real threat.

She went to her knees weeping.

He laughed to see this. "A mighty sorceress like you crying." he said, sardonically.

"I am no sorceress.".."

"He said that a sorceress sent him. Are you that sorceress?"

"There is no sorceress..." better let him believe that. "I will never be a sorceress... I will die drowned in a sack... I cannot do anything right."

She did not look like a sorceress. Not like the sorceresses he knew. They were old and powerful, and none of them cared for vanity. Looking young and lovely they saw as a waste to magic power... And this one was lovely.

"Who sent you?"

"My master."

"Your master?" the wizard spluttered. "You lie! Which sorcerer would take a female disciple and lie with her against the rules? Don't lie to me or you will feel such pain as your mistress never gave you."

She had made a mistake, Angelique realized. She had forgotten how things used to be at the Old, Old times.

So she did the next best thing. She went on a crying jag. He would not interrogate her while she carried on like this, and what she said, afterwards, he would believe more readily.

Her body shook. She could not wholly shield herself from he convulsions and mental turmoil that accompanied her weeping. Still, she managed to size the disciple. He could be a good potential ally. Disciples killed their masters in the Old, Old times. This one, he was itching for the chance...

"Who sent you?" the wizard insisted.

Angelique opened her mouth as if to answer, but made no sound, just as she had seen Ben Stokes do...

"Speak!" the wizard commanded.

She opened her mouth once more, as if she struggled against an invisible force that tried to silence her. Then she brought her hand to her throat and gasped for air.

The wizard gestured over her head. She paid it no heed, as she collapsed on the ground and began whimpering.

Adam wondered what she was trying to do. But if it was what he suspected, he'd better be ready to jump on the disciple.

With a cry of disgusts the wizard stepped into the circle himself. Whoever the Sorceress was, she certainly had picked a very dumb disciple.

The disciple studied the wizard, and his prisoners in the circle. Something told him that here was his chance, that he could not throw it away.

The wizard sensed a tension in the air, but he misread it. Would his unseen enemy now try to strike? He had to be quick or...

He stepped into the circle and bent to pick up Angelique.

She sent out all her power to him in a single bolt. He staggered and fell, his body breaking the circle.

"The disciple, Adam!" she shouted.

Adam did not need prompting. he fell on the young man and hit him on the jaw before he could think of using his power. He hit him again, to make double sure.

The wizard rose again. "So it is you, the Sorceress." he said, surprised.

"I wish you no ill. Do not force me to kill you."

"What do you seek? The way to restore those who have been turned to stone by my creatures?"

"Yes."

"And you think that I shall give it to you? With no payment, with no way to extract it by force? Just by begging?"

"I do not wish to harm you or yours. I erred in my way of seeking the answer, but I live far away, and I did not know of your existence. I would have approached you properly if I had known."

The wizard laughed "You apologize to me? A Sorceress, one of Wizard rank, who knows of the power, apologizing? You speak of peace after the battle has begun?

"I wish to call it back."

"Why? Because you are weak? If you are weak, then you shall be dealt with. No, you will pay the penalty for your attempt at theft.

They would do battle. Angelique had heard of such contests. The duels of wizards have caused whole islands to sink. The Old, Old time wizards were powerful and cruel. She wondered how she could hope to prevail.

Yet it was a fact that those wizards were gone, and it was her kind, reportedly weaker, which flourished.

"You know the rules, alien sorceress? Or do you ignore them as you ignore those of the couch, you who claim to have learned your craft from a man, and who takes a man as your disciple?"

"I will abide by the rules of the duel." Angelique said. "Yet I do not desire your life."

"Then you worship weakness, not strength. Do you wish to extend your neck before my knife?"

"I will fight you then. To the death."

"To your death, then"

She wished that Adam had brought a gun along. It might do some good.

The wizard lifted his hand high up in the air. An electrical spark danced on his fingers..

She jumped to the side as the bolt struck. He saw this and snickered. She was thus afraid of him and his power.

She sent two bolts at him. He did not move. He just intercepted them and made them fall harmless to his feet.

Angelique swallowed. He was so powerful. What chance did she have?

He let out another bolt and she jumped again to avoid it. He laughed at her, at her weakness, at he presumption in challenging him. She did not seek his life, indeed. She could not fight him at all. Not even to save her own life... so puny were her and her kind...

The disciple watched and Adam's hold on him loosened. "You could be free." Adam said. "You could be the wizard.

The disciple froze. They had not made any provision for the disciples. They would naturally oppose each other, both trying to bring about the death of their masters... but this disciple did not wish the death of his mistress... he wished to help her.

Then he knew who would win the battle.

He knew how to stop a human heart. He would have never dared use it on the wizard, as he was on guard against it. But now that his attention was on the duel, that the other disciple would not try to stop him...

He visualized his master's bloody heart in his hand. He felt it beat between his fingers.

And he squeezed it.

The wizard fell, gasping for air. The disciple continued squeezing.

"Are you killing him?" Angelique asked, out of breath.

"No. I have just killed him.."


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

The disciple hacked off the head, splattering the blood over his hands and shoulders.

"I am the wizard now!": he said as he lifted the head by the hair. "Power is mine. I have not the knowledge yet, but you. do."

The head opened its eyes "you betrayed me." it said.

"Yes. As you always knew I would. Now you must obey me. Or suffer punishment. Disobedient talking heads can be punished, in many painful ways."

The head closed its eyes.

"I am strong now, and you are weak. I command you and you obey. That's what you taught me once."

"Yes." the head agreed. "Rules are rules. You won and I lost. _You_ are the wizard now. till you take one disciple who will be too smart for you."

"I don't think so. I will make it so that my disciple does not desire to kill me."

The head twisted its face in horror. "You mean to break the rules! You mean to turn over the Power to those who are weak and unworthy of it!"

"And what if I do?"

"I will not help you do it! Never!"

"I am the master and you the slave. You are less than a slave. You are only a talking head. I shall command you and you shall obey. And you will teach me what I want to know."

"Never!"

The disciple, now disciple no longer, put his hands over the wizard's eyeballs and pressed on them making the head howl in pain. He kept his hands there a while, letting the head howl.

"Enough1" Angelique said. "do not hurt him."

"Power and pain are all he understands." the disciples said. "Maybe all I understand too. But I owe you a favor. He shall tell you what you are seeking for."

Angelique nodded. That was what she had come for, wasn't it?'

"Speak" the disciple commanded the head.

"I will" the head said, with relish. "For I know that the answer will bring her pain. Here is the answer. Take a stake and drive it through the heart of the dead that seeks blood from the living. The one with the power of the bat. Then collect the blood and smear it on the statue, and it will return to life."

"No!" Angelique shouted.

"There is no other remedy. Do you regret it, sorceress this answer that you seek? Do you think to protect the blood drinker, though he should be only a slave to you, an easily replaced slave? On, your kind are weak indeed..."

"No..."

"There is no other remedy. Do you regret it now, sorceress, this answer you came to seek? Do you seek to protect the blood drinker? You cannot."

"But.."

"Go back." the new wizard said. "You have what you came for. I owe you no more debts, and should you remain any longer, I shall attempt to slay you."

Angelique bent her head. He was right. They had no more business there. They had the answer they sought, and the wizard was no longer a threat. The new wizard was too raw, too inexperienced to come hunting for them...

"Come Adam." she said.

"Is it over, now?" he asked.

"Yes. It is over."

They were again in the maze, going through the Lost Objects, because the new wizard night get into his head to trace them...

"So he is now the new wizard?'

"Yes. That was the way magic was transmitted at first. One powerful wizard ruling his or her territory, with disciples of the same sex, so as not to produce any offspring, which could make blood claims on the Power."

"And the disciple who killed the wizard became wizard?"

"Yes. Most of the disciples died as slaves, drowned in sacks. But one of them usually ended up killing the master and inheriting the crown."

"What happened that it is no longer so?

Eventually wizards came who did not kill regularly their disciples, but instead instilled loyalty in them. There were wizards who mated against the rules and produced children with a blood claim to be taught the Art. Then there was no longer the need to kill your master to become a wizard. Magic became more widespread, more powerful. Yet the wizard we met would have called it weakening, because it allowed inferior talents to grasp knowledge of the Art... It might well be that this young man will be the one to begin the new tradition. He's seen how much more powerful a wizard can be when the disciple helps and supports him instead of plotting against him. It was a harsh, cruel world that the Old Old time wizards created, and I am not sorry to see it pass."

She thought again of the relish with which the head had given them his answer. She though of Barnabas and Megan. Which one would she... sacrifice?

Barnabas, more likely than not. He would see in it a way to pay whatever debt he still owed to Maggie.

"Are you going to tell them?" Adam asked her.

She said nothing.

"If you want me to say nothing about it.."

"Don't worry, Adam:" she said, a bit despectively "I won't kill you or abandon you because of what you know. Nor abandon you. I am done with cruelty and ruthlessness."

"The wizard was too bad a reminder?"

"Oh, Adam. If only evil was as barefaced as that... If only they did not speak mealy mouthed pieties... You did not know the du Pres. You did not know the Countess nor Josette's father."

"Were they evil?"

"How could they not be, living off the sweat of slaves that died working for them with no surcease nor compassion? You think of Martinique today and it sounds so romantic. It was as romantic as Stalin's gulag... Do you now that slaves cutting cane were fitted with gags, so that they could not chew on the cane they were cutting, and thus replenish their strength?. Can you imagine? Working from dawn to dusk in that heat. Given the bare minimum of food to survive, badly. And they felt themselves weakening, and they knew if that if they could only chew on the cane, they would get the energy they needed... But that was stealing from Andre du Pres, stealing form the Countess. Stealing from Josette... I lived in that world. I learned ruthlessness and cruelty in that world. And I know the mealy mouthed pieties that Andre du Pres spouted, and the ones that the Countess spouted. and compared to them, that wizard was honest. He was strong and the rest are weak, so he had the right to trample on them. He was better than Andre du Pres ever was."

'And that's why you became what you became."

"It is trample or be trampled. I did not wish to be trampled. So I trampled. Not slaves. I trampled on sweet Josette, whom I never saw as innocent. I tramped on Barnabas' family. I trampled on others... No, I was no avenging angel. I was not looking for Justice. I was looking out for myself."

"And you were once Miranda."

"Yes, in another life... Not that it mattered. It was the same story there with the Puritans. Trample or be trampled with a lot of pious speeches which demonstrated that God wanted them to have al, and you to have nothing. "

"No wonder you rejected God and embraced the Devil"

"Just words. God means that you have all. The Devil means that I have all. That was the education I got."

"But you learned better."

"We all learn better if we live long enough. And wish to learn."

"My education also taught me all the wrong things. I still hate Barnabas, you know."

"And you got a case, though I will not tell him of it."

"And you will not tell him of what you learned? Eventually you will have to."

"Yes. And he might be willing to sacrifice himself...And... We do not have that many vampires in town. Megan is out of the question. We had others, but Derek, Roxanne, and Richard are out of it..."

Richard. It hit her. Richard had been executed by other vampires. There might be another execution, sooner or later. She only had to contact whoever passed death sentences among vampires, and ask that they save the blood for her.

"Yes, Adam. There is a way that does not involve telling Barnabas about it."

* * *

Roxanne stood in front of Barnabas

"I want to invite you to my wedding." she said.

"You are marrying Derek, aren't you?"

"Yes."

"I hope that you will be happy with him."

"I also wanted to... to talk to you."

"You wanted to tell me something?"

"Yes."

"What is it?"

"You seem relieved that I am marrying him"

"Well, it is a solution for all of us."

"I wish..."

"Are you having second thoughts?"

"It is not that. It is just that you...I..."

"Is it that you want me to be hurt? That you want me to sweep you off your feet and carry you away?"

"I know that I am being silly, but..."

"You still want me."

"I told you how things were, back home. Things were so bad... the only thing that kept me going was the thought that I would see you again."

"Then it did its purpose. It kept you alive long enough.. But now you don't need it anymore. And you'd have been disappointed in me, even if I was still available to you."

"I know."

"Derek is not me. He can't ever be. But he's worth loving for his own sake."

"Yes, he is."

"More than once, I wished that I was more like him."

Roxanne nodded

"Roxanne" he said "I don't know what you really want. I don't know if you know it either."

"I know what I want. I want you to come to my wedding."

* * *

Urien poured himself a small glass of sherry. He hoped that David did not keep track. Because if he could not take pills, then he could drink.

He had to be able to sleep and get better dreams than he had...

* * *

Megan waited with Amy.

"Do you blame me?' Amy asked her.

"No. You could not have stopped her. I might, but even that I am not sure I could. And she was right. She HAD to go."

"If anything happened to her."

Megan shrugged. "Then the kid would be your responsibility...And that's all we could do."

Amy was silent again. And before he could say anything else, the air grew heavy around them.:

"Wait... It feels like.."

They went to the next room, where the I Ch'ing wands were set.

And Angelique was there, with Adam.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

"You think that Verhoff will let us know if there is going to be an execution?"

Megan shook her head. "I will try to approach him, but he does have a grudge against Barnabas."

"So we keep Barnabas out of it."

"I might try to contact Cicely and the other children... they feel they owe Barnabas and Julia and may be able to help. But internal politics among vampires being what they are, Verhoff pulls more weight than Cecily and the children."

"Still, in your case, Verhoff might want to be generous. After all, he won and you lost. Richard was executed."

"Yes, he might be generous with me. But... well... There is a lot of nastiness in the man. I will also try to talk more to old time vampires, they ones who were enslaved by sorcerers. The trouble with them is that they do not wish to remember those times. They suppress a lot, because the memories were so terrible."

"I know what those memories must be like. I learned what the wizard did to his disciple. The probably did worse tings to their other slaves."

"So you can understand that they will suppress them and pretend that it was not so bad... Still, it might be worthwhile. to ask... By the way, you have not told Barnabas of this, have you?"

"Not yet. I do not want him to get any ideas about heroic sacrifice. Not yet. It might well be that we will have to think about it. But we are far from needing it now."

"Good. That's one thing less to worry about. Now, do you want to retrieve your kid from Amy?"

"You are not asking me to leave him or her where it is?"

"Well, it would solve some problems. Like you draining me when you need power. No, I understand why you do it. You cannot use your own energy because you need it for the baby. But it makes me hungrier, and it can get dangerous. Not yet. But I want you to be aware that I am not a bottomless barrel that you can tap any time you wish. You better not start any big project for a while. Unless you want Amy to deliver the child."

":No, it is my child, and I shall bear it."

"All right, go and pick it up."

* * *

"I was a fool." Adam said to Carolyn.

'You and me, Adam. Or rather it seems that I know even less than you about dealing with people."

"Still, I made a mess of things. I did not mean to... but well, whether you mean it or not does not change the fact that a U.S. Representative has been turned to stone."

Carolyn took a deep breath. "We both made mistakes. We are still growing up, Adam... Your upbringing left a lot to be desired, but so did mine. I never learned how to be a friend. Never learned how to deal with the people I loved. I was raised to be Collins, not a human being. A Collins does not go around humbling herself and explaining. We rule this town and our word is law... Good for handling servants. But no more than that. You are damaged, Adam. So am I."

"I was hurt. But when you came apologizing to me I turned you away. I had found my perfect woman, why did I need you for?

"So, what a sorry mess we are, aren't we?"

"Do you think that we may have a chance in spite of everything?"

"Yes. But we got to work at it. Are you willing to try? "

Adam took a deep breath. "If you think that I can finally grow up, then I am willing."

"So am I"

* * *

Roxanne and Derek's wedding was a rather small affair. They had not family, either of them, and few friends and acquaintances. Roxanne could call on Buffy, and Frank, and Derek could call on Xavier and Sandy. Then it was George, Barnabas, Zeb, Jessica, Amy, Megan and Angelique. Phillip had sent congratulations to the man who, born Elmer Urrey, had been thrust into a very strange world because his face had once been like Megan's former husband...

"Here's to you, Derek." George said. "I will not try to lie by praising you for virtues that you do not have. We know what things you used to do in the past, and still do if no one is watching you. No, don't protest. I will not believe a word of it, anyway." he grinned. "We all know what you are capable of, and in your attempts you have provided us with hours of innocent merriment. And some not so innocent. I would not recommend to you anyone as an investment counselor.. But I will recommend you for a friend, and as someone who, when the chips are down, can be trusted to come through. And if someone here deserves wholehearted happiness, it is you. Just try to forget your get-rich-quick schemes, will you? Most of them don't work, and some have... unpleasant consequences, as Buffy Torrance could tell, if she chose."

Buffy grinned. She had not relished that adventure, but now she could see the funny side of it.

Barnabas looked at Roxanne. She seemed composed enough, and did not betray her feelings.

Was he doing right in saying nothing?

And what could he say? That Roxanne was still hurt over the way that he had forsaken her? That she had come to gloat, to tell him that the could have had her, but it was now too late?

Buffy got up. "Derek, there is much that I could tell about you. Specially one episode, that in retrospect is hilarious, though it did not feel like it at the time. But I will not embarrass you. I will just say that when I first came I was all alone, and because my face was that of someone who had died violently not too long before, no one knew how to deal with me. Barnabas did try to help me, but I did not fully trust him. Derek, you were the first one who befriended me. And whatever your reasons for it, and what happened afterwards, I am thankful to you."

And so they went. Barnabas wondered. Was Roxanne aware of what she was getting in Derek? Was she able to truly appreciate him instead of being unhappy because he was not Barnabas?

He earnestly hoped so.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

"Are you sure you told us everything?" George asked Angelique.

"I did."

George shook his head. "I know when someone is lying, and you are. You found out something and you don't want to share it. Why? Not because it is good. No. It is bad news."

"Julia knows all of it. She can choose to tell you."

"Adam knows, too. Of course, you can make him shut up or forget."

"All you and Barnabas need to know, I have told you. There is nothing in what we do that you can help with, so there is no need to tell you of it."

George looked at her with suspicion. "This is not going to end here."

"Maybe you'll find out, and too soon for your taste."

"What is it that I will find out?"

"Nothing!"

"You are almost as bad a liar as Barnabas. Come on, out with it. Whatever it is, I can handle it."

"You can't force me. And take my word for it. The less you know, the better off you'll be."

* * *

Robert Loomis was there, waiting for him.

Urien whimpered. Not again. Would he ever stop? What did he want, anyway? He had had nothing to do with the old man's death.

Someone else was with him now. He recognized her. It was the gypsy who had attacked him back in Collinsport, and who had since burned to death.

"Leave me alone." he said to her. "What do you want with me, anyway? I don't owe you anything."

"We want you to deliver a message." Zoya said.

And there was one more with them. Yolanda Overton. The one who had tried to kill him and the others just to hurt Barnabas.

"What do you want with me? You want revenge again? You want to hurt Barnabas again?"

"I want Barnabas to know of this."

"You will tell him." Zoya said.

"No! I won't! I won't let you hurt him again!"

"You will tell the bloodsucker of us." Robert Loomis said.

"No! Not me! I will not help you! I know you! I know what you are! You will not hurt him again!"

"We do not want to hurt him." Robert Loomis insisted, irritated.

"I won't help you, ever!"

"You must."

"No! Not I!"

"We will make you."

"No! I will stop you!"

"You can't. You must not. It has to happen."

"No.. no... You won't hurt him again, any of you!"

"You are fool, child."

He was grabbed by the shoulders and shaken. He kicked and protested. Whatever they wanted with Barnabas, he would not allow it.

"Urien, it is me, David. Wake up."

"No!""

"Stop it before the neighbors complain."

"I will not let you... I will not.." he opened his eyes and saw David standing in front of him. "Huh?" he asked.

"You must have eaten something that did not agree with you." David said.''

"Yes. I think that's what it was." Urien said weakly.

"It happens, sometimes. Better keep away from pizza and beer next time."

Urien nodded. "I dreamed about Yolanda Overton."

"The one who tried to kill us all? Yes, that would be scary, all right. But she's dead and not likely to come back."

"She seemed so real... and she was going to hurt Barnabas..."

David nodded. "Have you had any more dreams about her?"

"No, not till now."

"Then it is likely to be badly digested pizza."

"But it could be for real... the first warning."

"It could... maybe you should tell Barnabas."

"No." Telling Barnabas was what Yolanda wanted him to do. He would not do it. While he kept silent about it, Barnabas was safe.

"No?"

"No... you know. Now it seems unreal, when I have woken up... it was only a bad dream. Just as you said."

He hoped that David would believe it. He would not let Yolanda have her way. He would never betray Barnabas to her.

Whatever it took.

* * *

Barnabas went down the cellar. He knew that Angelique had found the answer, but also that it would take time until they knew if it would work or not. Julia would work at it, she had said, and she would tell him when she had it.

And then, everything would be right again. Maggie would be back to DC, to wheel and deal with the best, and one day she would be Senator, and maybe President... and Joe would go back to Tammy, and before long they would have a child... Adam by now would have learned to stay out of trouble...

And yet...

Something gnawed at him. Things were not what they seemed. There was more to it...

Maybe Angelique had not told all the truth...

No, what happened was that he felt excluded. He had done nothing himself to solve the problem. It had been Angelique and Adam. Amy had helped more than he had.

But what could he have done? Adam had been the one who had dived carelessly in, and Angelique had been the best qualified to handle it. He could not have helped much if he had gone into the maze himself. Trask would have caught him before he had the chance to learn the first thing, and no one would be a bit better because of it.

He stroked Maggie's cheek. "You will not stay this way much longer." he told her "You'll be back in DC in no time at all. Then you will have to find a way to disallow your doppelganger's actions."

Maggie, of course, could not answer him. No more than Joe. He sighed. It would come to be, but not today.

And again he thought of it with a bit of irony. Maggie and Joe, together again, after all those years. He had been the one to separate them, and now, through him, they were together again, and neither of the would want it.

Maybe he had never be released, they would have enjoyed a normal life, both of them. Maggie and Joe would have married, would have had a home with children. Neither of them would have been sent to Wyncliffe,,... and Maggie would have never gone to DC... Well, maybe that would have been for the best... Better than this...

If... It was useless to ask iffy questions. They are the shortest way to heartbreak as Dave had warned him. He had not paid attention then, why should he pay attention now?

He went up the stairs again. To wait till someone came to him to tell that they had the answer and that Maggie and Joe would be living, breathing people again, instead of stone.

Tammy was waiting for him upstairs. She came every day, to see Joe. It did not help any, but she had to come. Somehow, she believed that he knew that she was there.

"There is no change?" she asked.

"None."

"They said that Angelique had the answer."

"Yes. She also said that it would take time. She and Julia are working together."

"At least now they got something to work with. Not like when they were trying to cheer me up... you all tried to cheer me up, but I could tell that you did not mean it."

"I never gave up hope."

"I know. After all, Phillip did come back... and you came out of some hopeless trouble yourself. But did you truly believe that there was an answer?"

"I hoped there was. And I knew that there would be none if we gave up hope."

She nodded. "I have been behaving quite horribly lately, haven't I? You were just trying to help and I just shouted at you."

"Grief does terrible things to people. I should know."

She sobbed, and this time, after man days, Barnabas knew that it was safe to put his arms around her.

She held onto him, cuddling up and rubbing her tear-stained face against his chest.

"Tammy." he said with emotion. "this is the first time that I truly believe that you ware my daughter, and that you believe it too."


End file.
